Externship Site Inspections: Fitting Well-Rounded Programs into the Four Corners of the ABA Guidelines

Abstract

This article demonstrates how the American Bar Association’s standards regaling law school externship programs create needless administrative burdens and reduces creativity and experimentation among the nation’s law schools. In addition, the analysis provides empirical evidence of the negative consequences in not having a better cross-section between the ABA site inspectors and the U. S. News rankings of law schools. The article argues for more consistency in the nature and quality of ABA inspections of law school externship programs.